Unless you're Jean-Michel Cousteau, or you work for the US Wildlife Service, you ain't getting into the Northwest Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument. The largest protected area under US jurisdiction and the largest marine sanctuary on earth, the NHIMNM boasts more than 7000 species -- one-quarter of which exist nowhere else in the world. Although divers used to be able to reach Midway -- a large atoll in the island chain -- to explore the area's marine life, the area has been off-limits for about 5 years. Remote, untouched, pristine, and glorious, this place might be a diving wonderland -- if only divers could get there.

Amazingly, divers may soon be able to get there! According to Hawaiirama, the three governmental agencies that co-manage the Sanctuary just released an interim plan that will allow visitors to, um, visit as early as mid-2007. (According to the Seattle PI, the Sanctuary could accommodate 30 visitors per night in 2007, and up to 50 visitors per night the following year.) For now, appropriate activities will include snorkeling, kayaking, walking tours, and visits to the historic military sites located on the island. Okay, so snorkeling and diving aren't the same thing, but if things go well, maybe they'll lift some of the restrictions.

If you're interested in getting yourself out to Midway to see what all the hubbub is about, then you should check out the interim plan and comment on it by the February 6, 2007, deadline.